


Brothers

by MidnightCitizen



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: First fic please go easy on me, Soft Brother Content, soft content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-07 19:52:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17372240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightCitizen/pseuds/MidnightCitizen
Summary: Sean and Daniel Diaz in their natural habitat of soft brotherly bonds.





	1. Campfire

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so please go easy on me. There's been a lot of things I want to write so be on the lookout for other pieces.  
> Includes: Very soft content  
> Planning on including different moments and flashbacks.

__Watching his brother stare into the fire was just making Daniel more and more anxious the longer he watched him. He had been silent ever since he started the fire, making Daniel worried that he had made him mad in some way today. He doesn't remember doing anything that could warrant such a reaction -- but he didn't know and he didn't know if he wanted to find out.  
After what happened at home , he had been more dependent on his big brother and his opinion. In fact, it had been years since they … were normal.  
High school made Sean more shut in and he didn’t do things with him like he used to.  
Daniel was getting used to those changes, even while desperately trying to get his brother to pay attention to him like he used to.  
After what happened with their father, he wasn’t sure what to do anymore.

At least… he was …acting like he used to.  
He actually showed he cared.

“Daniel?”  
The young boy looked up to his big brother, Sean’s eyes reflecting the concern that he didn’t even need to voice. Daniel forced a smile , remembering his brother’s words from long before telling him not to think about all of that too much.  
Everything that happened that day …

It was part of the past and right now they needed to focus on what’s to come.  
And where to find food and shelter.  
They had too many other factors to worry about.

“I’m okay. I was just thinking.”

“Is _that_ why I’m seeing so much smoke? Damn.”

Sean’s grin was contagious even if he did pull a low blow. Being able to joke around with his brother was calming in a lot of different ways. It made him feel better.  
But that didn't stop him from getting mad over the smoke bit.  
Daniel nudged him with his shoe, satisfied with Sean’s disgusted face from Daniel’s dirty shoes leaving a small mark of mud on Sean’s pants. Sean made a work of trying to rub off the mud, lucky enough that he got most of it off.

“Shut up! You’re the one making a stupid face right now, “Daniel huffed, moving his legs back against his chest before his brother could retaliate. He’s had too many incidents where Sean pulled a fast one on him – it ended in torture.  
Well, _tickles._  
It might as well have been torture, considering his brother wouldn’t let him go until he felt so.

The more he thought about it , the stranger it all seemed. Sean was acting different.  
Sean was a good big brother, he knew that, but he wasn’t being as mean as he usually was. He knew he annoyed his big brother – in some cases he tried to do just that – but even with all his whining about food and pain from walking so much , he wasn’t getting mad at him.

He didn’t know why – but he had some suspicions.  
They were both having a rough time after losing everything.

“Okay, but you look tired, Dan.”

Sean shoved a few more sticks in the fire before scooting closer to Daniel. Daniel didn’t mind it. He was actually very thankful for the closeness and comfort that came from his brother. Moving so he was resting his head against his brother’s arm, he let himself relax in the warmth that came off his brother. He never realized how cold it was until his brother came to his side and put his arm around his shoulders, pulling him close so he wasn’t as cold.

With everything changing , Sean was one of the only things he could depend on.  
His brother was his home now.  
He was the comfort that he needed in all of this and Daniel couldn’t put into words how thankful he was for his brother loving him still after … what happened.

He wasn’t normal.  
Daniel didn’t know what was wrong with him. A part of him found it awesome but the other part was just scared. This was just something else people could make fun of him for. Daniel hated the fact that he was so weird.

Sean told him he was just like a super hero but … Daniel had hurt people already because of them.

He didn’t want to be a super hero at all.

Daniel wanted to be home.  
He wanted his dad back.

“Bro…”

Daniel looked up at his brother, feeling Sean’s thumb along his cheek. Daniel had started crying a little bit, his big brother wiping the tears away like he always did.

“Everything is going to be okay, Danny.”

“What if it’s not? Nothing is okay anymore.”

“Well … dad wouldn’t want us to get upset over this.”

Even with hearing his dad in the past tense, the boy stiffened. He hated it …  
But Sean kept talking.

“ – what’s the matter? What’s on your mind?”

“Sean, I want to go home.”

Sean pulled him closer, silent for a bit. Daniel took advantage of the moment to wipe at his eyes again, not moving his head from Sean’s arm, a small sniffle coming from him.

“I know, Danny. I do too. But we can’t do anything right now. We have to keep going. There’s no way they’ll listen to us if we tried to explain. Plus it looks really bad that we fled the scene but …”

“… it was necessary.” Daniel finished, a small breath escaping him. He wasn’t going to complain to his brother about what happened , considering them running was the only thing they could do.  
They were innocent … but that cop fired for no reason. He shouldn't have done it ... 

“Daniel, I’m just trying to keep you safe.  
Everything I do is in attempt to keep you protected.”

“I know, Sean.”

“Good.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Daniel watching Mushroom sleeping by his bag, Sean watching the fire. Daniel knew that , as long as he was with his brother, nothing was going to happen.  
They had each other’s backs and they were a duo.

No one will split them up.

They were the wolf brothers, after all.

“It’s late, Danny. Let’s get settled. We need the sleep.”

After some shifting around, they were laying side-by-side in the tent. Daniel felt ten times safer with this over their head. He knew that it was weak and wasn’t the best protection for wild animals or orcs, but the thought of having something like a roof over their head was comforting.   
At least they would be safe from rain.

Daniel looks over at his brother , meeting eyes with him and softly smiling.

Everything was going to be okay.

“Night, Danny. I love you.”

“Night, Sean. I love you , too.”


	2. Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minecraft is something they can both agree to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a pretty fast upload but I'm not sure if I'll always be able to post this soon. I've had no internet for the past week so that gave me plenty of time to write. I start up college again soon so I'm unsure of what my exact uploading schedule will be ( if I have any ) but I'll have an update with my next chapter.  
> These first two were pretty short so I'm hoping I can write up some longer chapters.

“Daniel, did you leave a chicken in my room?”   
Sean looked at his little brother, watching as the kid tried not to grin.

“Maybe,” the nine-year-old responded, returning his gaze to the computer in front of him, doing his best not to giggle.

It was a slow Friday night. Their dad was working in the garage, leaving the two boys to entertain themselves. That wasn’t hard, considering they were both finished with homework and bored out of their minds.  
They decided that they should play some Minecraft.  
Minecraft was an old favorite for them, something that both of them enjoyed.

Sean rolled his eyes and moved to a chest, grabbing some seeds and leading the chicken out of his room , moving back to the small chicken pen inside their base. He watched as Daniel’s character moved around, placing iron ore into the iron, Sean remembering that they had a good amount of it their last trip out.   
They were lucky that they needed to mine some cobblestone, hearing spiders from behind some of the stone. Not too long later, Daniel had found a mine in their search and they both agreed that they’d go back to it later.

Sean was already planning out their next trip, placing some supplies in one of their chests when he glanced to his little brother, Daniel giving the smallest of yawns.  
It was getting pretty late already and Sean doubted his little brother would tell him he was tired. He was too used to the boy just dozing off against him.

Daniel was too excited to want to go to bed, he knew this. Minecraft was their thing and Daniel had been looking forward to playing all day. In fact, he pestered him as soon as they got home. Dad told him that he’d have to wait until he was done with his homework and Sean was a little proud when his brother nodded and quickly grabbed his bag to work on it.

The teen was more than just proud of his brother. He couldn’t put it into words how much he cared about his little bro … but he didn’t say anything , only shaking his head in amusement as he talked with his dad about his recent test score.  
Turning his focus back to his screen , he finished turning some wood into planks, sticking that into one of their other chests.

“Sean, do we have any glass?”

“Why do you need glass?” Sean looked over at his brother again, who was watching him with a frown pulling at his lips..

“I just … you know …”

“Danny, I actually don’t know.”

“I wanted to make another garden! I told you that earlier. I found pumpkins and I wanted to start a pumpkin patch.”

“Okay , okay , geez.” Sean laughed, shaking his head in amusement. “There should be some glass in the chest by our beds. You need any help with the garden?”

“… maybe, yeah. I want to make it look really nice and I don’t know where to put it.”

Sean took a glance out one of the windows in their base, trying to think of a nice place to put it. They had a couple gardens already, one on their main floor and one on their roof. They had cleared out some more space by the main floor garden and Sean was sure that was the best place to put it.

“You know the spot by where all our trees are? I feel like that’s the best place to put it.”

Daniel seemed to be thinking about it before nodding, Sean watching as Daniel’s character went out the door to head for their garden.   
Sean was going to miss this. He knew that nights like these were going to almost completely stop once he got into college. Maybe he could get them a server (the price wasn’t too much) and they could play online together.   
If he even had time after all the homework he’s sure to get.

College was a scary thought. Sean had no idea what he was going to do … but he wanted to make sure he still had time with his brother and dad. They were too important not to keep in touch with.

To his left, he could hear Daniel gave a yawn once again.  
Jesus…

“Dude, you need to get some sleep.”

“I’m not tired!”

“Uh, yeah you are. Come on. We need to get off and get you ready for bed.”

“Sean, I’m not tired at all!”

Sean gave a look which was enough for his little brother to get moving. Daniel grumbled something that sounded a lot like ‘poopy head’ and Sean shook his head, laughing, as he got up. Daniel exited to the main screen after making sure it was saved before moving the laptop off his lap. Then, after pushing himself to his feet, he quickly headed to the bathroom. Sean stayed quiet until he could hear him run the water from the tap, just glad he was listening to him and not just running to complain to dad. Sean turned off Daniel’s laptop (well, dad’s old one. Daniel was lucky enough for it to work with Minecraft) and moved it to Daniel’s room.

Moving his way to the bathroom, Daniel already brushing his teeth, Sean reached past his brother to grab a tooth brush , putting some toothpaste on it before putting it in his mouth, getting to work. There was a silence between them, both too focused on brushing their teeth. But Sean was forming an idea. Once he was finished brushing his teeth, and Daniel was cleaning off his toothbrush with some water from the sink, they both put their brushes in the cup on the sink.

Before Daniel could rush off, Sean picked up his brother, much to his brother’s complaining.

“Sean!!!”

“ _Rawrrr_. The big brother monster got you!”

“Put me down!”

“Nope!”

Laughing, Sean carried a struggling Daniel to his brother’s room, plopping him down on his bed. Daniel huffed, hitting Sean’s arm.   
Sean didn’t mind, way too amused with how angry his brother got to care about the small pain that came from the ‘attack’. His brother can’t hit too hard, thankfully, so the pain didn’t last long.

“Get dressed , man.”

“I’m not going to because I’m not tired.”

“…do you want me to tell dad?”

“Yeah, tell dad I’m not tired.”

Sean sighed, glancing at his phone. The bright screen reflected his worst fears. It was later than he thought.

“Dude, it’s eleven pm. You need to get to bed. Dad will kill me if I let you stay up any longer. We’re going to the store in the morning, remember?”

Daniel glared up at his brother, not moving a muscle as he sat on his bed.   
Sean knew that he only had one choice.

Dramatically sighing, he put his phone back in his pocket, heading for the door. “I guess I won’t buy you that Minecraft Lego set you’ve been wanting.”

“… you were going to?”

Sean stopped in the doorway, a hand resting on the doorframe before looking over his shoulder. He knew how to get to Daniel and almost felt bad for even making him feel bad. Watching Daniel frown like this … sucked.

It hurt.

“Of course I was going to. You’ve been doing good in school and I don’t mind buying you something like that. It means you’ll be shut in here and staying out of my hair when I’m doing homework.”

Sean was glad to see the frown exchange for a smile, Daniel looking … happy.   
Good.

“I’ll  _try_ to sleep.”

“Good. I’m going to go get dressed in my pjs and give you a goodnight kiss once you get in bed, alright?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, leaving his brother’s room to go into his own, closing the door behind him. It was nice to be able to treat his brother to things like this. It wasn’t a huge chunk out of his savings and … making his brother happy was worth more than anything in the world.

Not wasting any time, he changed into his pjs, tossing his jeans and tshirt on his bed before returning to his brother’s room. Daniel was in his Minecraft pjs, earning a small snort from Sean as Daniel got into bed, pulling the blanket up to his chin.

Sean took a seat on the side of his bed, ruffling his brother’s hair ( to more complaints ) before kissing his forehead.

“Get some sleep, Danny. And I won’t tattle if you play your DS for a little bit.”

“But what if I’m in the middle of a gym battle?”

“Then don’t get started on a gym battle. In fact, Pokemon will suck you in. Play something to just make you sleepy. I’ll go tell dad that you’re going to bed and he should be in here to tuck you in.”

Sean moved to get up , ready to head out … but Daniel reached up and grabbed his pant leg. Sean stopped, looking down with a raised eyebrow, unsure of why his brother did so.

“What is it?”

“… you’re the best big brother.”

Sean felt his cheeks burn, shaking his head in disagreement quickly.

“No no no. I am _not_ the best big brother. I’m an ass to you sometimes.”

“Yeah, but no one is like you.”

“… well, you’re the best little brother. I wouldn’t exchange you for anyone. Even if you can be annoying.”

“Love you , Sean.”

“Love you too, buddy.”


	3. Bus Bully

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bully goes too far and Sean has had enough. He decides to act.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been my favorite so far to write. I'm back to school and I should be able to post more chapters now since I'm back to a good wifi connection. If you have any suggestions or requests for next chapters, make sure to leave them in the comments.   
> If you have any feedback, I would also appreciate that.

Sean was getting tired of it. He had seen this sort of thing happening for a couple weeks, a random day in the week where some high schooler decided to give shit to Daniel. This asshole, Jacob Smith, was the one who gave his brother the most trouble.

Last week he had watched them have a small conversation , too busy talking to Lyla to really focus on what was going on. Later he found out from Daniel , after a lot of pressure , that it was because Daniel had his foot out in the aisle.

Sean knew that it was bullshit, knowing from the beginning of the year that Jacob had some useless hatred for his little brother because Jacob’s little brother was in Danny’s science class. Jacob’s brother , Eric, was pissed because of how much Danny knew in class.

What a stupid reason to hate someone …

And an even stupider reason to sic your big brother on a kid in your class.

He kept an eye out now , keeping an eye on Daniel on the bus as he talked with Lyla. He was grateful to find out that she was done to fuck some assholes up for his brother if it was needed. He had no idea what he would do without Lyla…

Today was what he was waiting for. After the bus headed away from the schools, under the guise that they were in a heated conversation about the best Pokemon type. He knew that he was getting looks from other high schoolers but most stayed silent, not bothering them about it.

He watched his brother, listening to him talk with one of his friends about some update that’s supposedly coming to Minecraft. He had been talking about it for the past couple days and as amused as Sean got when it came to how excited his brother got, he admittedly zoned out for most of the conversation.

He took note to ask him more about it later.

“Move out of the way , dipshit.”

Ears perking up , both Sean and Lyla glanced over as Jacob kicked Daniel’s bag out of the way. It was barely in the way but Jacob pushed it out so it was farther down , away from Danny’s grip, and leaned over to pick it up.

Every alarm was going off in Sean’s head.

“Hey! P-Put that down!” Danny barely raised his voice, his stutter conveying just how scared he really was. He had every right to be. Jacob was twice Sean’s size and had more muscle – barely any smarts, thought Sean. He used all of the brain cells he had left to play football.

He was a scary guy, alright. Not going to lie, Sean was a little scared of him.

Dark hair and piercing blue eyes and a bent nose that was broken so much from fights and football. He was a walking ,talking bully stereotype.

Sean hated him.

“What? This? How am I supposed to know whether you stole this or not?” Jacob continued, a sick grin coming to his lips as he started grabbing for the zipper on Daniel’s bag, giving it a small pull as he started to open it.

Daniel quickly tried to get to his feet but Jacob reached out , easily pushing him back down into his seat.

“Get off!”

Things stopped, a boiling sensation starting to form in Sean’s chest. That fucker shoved his brother.

Rising so quickly he dropped his backpack , which was sitting on his lap, he quickly moved into the aisle.

“Get the fuck off him, Jacob.”

Jacob looked over, eyeing Sean a little before laughing. “The fuck are you going to do , Diaz?”

Sean didn’t know. But he wasn’t going to let this douchenozzle continue to mess with his little brother. Stepping closer, he snatched Daniel’s bag out of Jacob’s hands and gave it back to Daniel, his brother staring up at them with a worried expression.

Jacob, however, wasn’t too happy about this.

“I wasn’t done looking at that, Diaz.”

“Well, I say you’re done. Leave him alone.”

Jacob moved his hand, raising his hands to signal his “innocence” as he took a step back, a sick grin on his face. Sean didn’t trust anything this fucker did.

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop. But when are they going to detain your gross family?”

Sean tried ignoring him, eyes glancing over Danny’s face to make sure he was alright. He could see the anger in his brother’s eyes and he was sure his eyes reflected the same. Sean could hear his father’s words to ignore him.

He would never get far if he always reacted to people like this.

But he couldn’t help himself.

“Once we build the fucking wall we won’t see people like yo—”

In a matter of seconds, Sean’s fist had collided with Jacob’s face in a hard punch. He could feel the pain already but the satisfaction of seeing blood from Jacob’s nose was the perfect medicine for this. He knew he would get in trouble for this and could already see the bus driver glancing up at him and the whispers of the younger kids in the front of the bus ….

But Sean didn’t care.

Jacob just seemed to get more flared up at this , however, and lunged for Sean.

Sean barely had time to react, jumping onto his empty seat quickly as Jacob ran for him. The uncalculated outcome of Sean moving made Jacob run farther back into back of the bus, tripping over someone’s foot and hitting the floor hard.

Sean would laugh if he wasn’t so afraid of what Jacob would do now.

“Danny, come here.”

Daniel didn’t need to be told again. He quickly rushed into the seat with Lyla as she held him close.

Sean kept an eye on Jacob before putting his feet back on the floor, taking a few steps over.

“I told you to stay away from him, asshole.”

There was a groan in response and he didn’t give him another look, already hearing small snickers from the other high schoolers on the bus. Not many people liked Jacob and a lot of them were scared shitless of what he would do next – but at least he was glad to see that none of them were outing him the bus driver.

Sean knew, however, that the punch was probably caught on the security camera. But he knew that at least one of the others would back him up – and if not, he had Lyla.

Before he could sit down again, however, he felt a tug on his shoulder. Jacob had gotten back up , surprisingly silent for his size, and made Sean turn around.

Before he could push away he felt Jacob’s hand make contact with his face and controlled himself as much as he could to not say a loud “FUCK.” Instead, he stumbled back a little, trying to ready himself for a fight – but to his relief, one of the other football players shot up and grabbed him by the arms. Sean gave the smallest not to him in thanks, watching as Jacob struggled and the other football player tell him off for being an ass.

Sitting back down, his face and eye burning, he had a bit of a struggle. The seat was now a small squeeze having his brother squeezed between him and Lyla. They were both staring at him but Sean only smiled, feeling tired in so many ways. Lyla seemed like she wanted to be angry at him … but there was a small, proud smile on her features instead. She reached out , grabbing his hand and looking it over before looking at his face.

“Oh Sean, you’re going to have a black eye. You’re not going to get any chicks.”

Sean laughed, gently squeezing his hand and rolling his eyes.

“I don’t know. I think I’m going to get a lot more attention with this tomorrow.”

“I know who you want to grab the attention of..”

“Oh shut up.”

Looking down at his brother as Lyla laughed, he was surprised to see that Danny was silent now. The silence was really killing him, honestly.

It was unlike his brother to be this silent. He reached a hand out and ruffled his brother’s hair. The movement seemed to scare him , the boy jumping a little.

And Sean’s heart stopped. 

But Danny looked up at Sean and , in seconds, was tightly hugging him.

Sean held his brother close, feeling relieved in so many different ways. Who knew what Jacob would have done if he had let that continue to go on. Danny is too small and doesn’t know any sort of fighting. Honestly, he would have been proud if his brother could even give a good punch. But he didn’t want his brother to get into any sort of fights.

He couldn’t risk his brother getting into that much trouble.  
In fact, he was sure he was going to get in a shit load of it ....

They held the hug until they got to their stop. Sean let Daniel out before him and then Lyla, following them off the bus. Once the bus was long gone, Sean put his arm around his brother’s shoulders as they walked to their house, Lyla tagging along.

“I’ll help you explain things to your dad.”

“Thanks, Lyla.”

“You better not get in trouble, Sean,” Daniel frowned, looking up at his brother with so much concern that it hurt Sean’s heart. He wished he didn’t have to be the good big brother… but he needed to be there for his brother.

“I won’t , man. Don’t worry about me. Just make sure that when you tell your friends about this tomorrow that you leave out the part I where I almost fell on my ass when he punched me.”

“I think I can do that if you play some games with me.”

“…I think I can do that, Danny.”

“Good.”


	4. Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sean finds out his brother is sick , he feels like the worst older brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since my last chapter but ... college got in the way! I edited this chapter as much as I could without wanting to delete the whole thing.

“Sean?”

Sean glanced up from his sketchbook, looking up at his teacher with a raised eyebrow. He had finished his test early and had plenty of time left in class. The teacher even told him that they were allowed to do whatever as long as they were quiet and Sean was worried that the teacher would pull a fast one on him.  
He was in the middle of opening his mouth to ask what he needed when the teacher continued on, already sliding a note to Sean.

“It’s your brother. The office called and told me that he got sick. He’s been throwing up and he needs to go home.”

Sean froze up at the words, remembering about how bad Danny was the last time he got sick. He couldn’t believe his luck…

Their dad was out of state to pick up some car parts. Of course Danny gets sick when dad isn’t home. But ignoring that little fact for now, he shoved the note in his sketchbook. Making sure to give his teacher a nod, watching as his teacher returned to his desk, he returned his gaze to his stuff and started grabbing things. His little brother needed him … he can’t waste any time thinking about his luck.

Shoving his sketchbook and his pencil pouch into his bag, he carefully stood so the chair wouldn’t screech too much along the floor. He made his way out of the classroom, ignoring the curious glances from his classmates. He was sure that there would be a lot of stupid rumors about why he left class early … but if he cleared things up tomorrow he was sure there wouldn’t be anything too strange.

Sean headed for the office, quickly sending a text to Lyla to explain that he won’t be on the bus. Her response was quick and Sean smiled when she said she would come over after school to help nurse Daniel. Daniel would freak about it ... but he knew Daniel would be happy to see her when he feels so gross.

Being in separate school buildings was great, honestly, but sucked when it came to things like this. Sean’s worried thoughts just kept growing the longer he walked. He had no way to get them both back home but there’s a chance he could ask for a ride from one of the office assistants.

Moments like these just made him wish he could drive even more. It sucked so much ass to have to depend on people like this.

Glancing through the office window door as he grabbed the handle, he saw one of the secretaries, Mrs.Bennett, on the phone. Sean always adored her because she never treated him weird and she always made sure to say hi to him when he went to the office for anything.

Plus, she came to a lot of track meets and cheered them on.

He awkwardly stood in front of her desk, glancing around the office as he waited for her to hang up. He didn’t want to interrupt her so he stood there as quietly as he could. At least he didn’t have to worry about interrupting any other conversations. There wasn’t a lot of people in the office. He could see someone from his English class reading one of the pamphlets from the mighty wall of brochures, pamphlets, and other useless papers. This one just so happened to read “Don’t shake the baby!” on the cover and, honestly, Sean had to stop himself from giving an amused chuckle.

How many trees were they fucking up from printing shit like that?

“Mr.Diaz?”

Sean moved his gaze back to the secretary, nervously throwing a smile on. She returned the smile and started writing on a paper. He could only assume that was something about how he was going to be leaving early with his brother. But the gross thought in the back of his head worried he would get in trouble for this later.

“The nurse at the elementary school said that your brother is having one rough day.”

“Yeah, it sounds like it. Is he okay?”

“Oh, yes, yes. He apparently threw up after first period and didn’t tell anyone. Then, a couple minutes ago, he threw up in class. Poor thing. Right in the middle of a video in his science class.”

Sean could practically feel his heart plummet, thinking about how miserable Danny must be. Not only was he sick but throwing up in front of your classmates was horrible a horrible experience. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the embarrassment himself because he’s had that happen too many times.

Poor Daniel…

“It’s a good thing you’re done with your assignments for the next few classes. And that Nate is free and can take you to the elementary school and to your house.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“Even if he didn’t want to, I’d make him. He’s my nephew and he has to listen to me.”

As much as he adored Mrs.Bennett , he wanted to be as far as possible from this school and at home with his brother, taking care of him. He didn’t have to worry, however, because she called Nate from the backroom and soon he was on his way to the elementary school, silently riding shotgun in Nate’s truck the whole time.

When they got to Daniel’s school, he practically ran into the front office and the first thing he saw was his little brother.

Danny looked like shit. His arms wrapped around himself and his face pale. They had placed a trashcan beside him just incase he got sick again and judging by the look on Danny’s face, it didn’t seem like it would be long. Sean quickly walked to him, gently cupping his little brother’s cheeks in his hands as he examined his face.

How did he not realize he was sick?

Danny looked horrible this morning and Sean just thought it was because of how long he stayed up last night. But now he was kicking himself for not thinking about it sooner.

At least his brother was lighting up at the sight of him.

“Sean!”

“Hey, buddy. Heard you got sick.”

“… you heard right.”

Letting go of his brother’s cheeks, he ruffled his hair ( minus the usual protest ) before going to the front desk. In a couple minutes, they were both in Nate’s truck. Sean held Danny close to him, his brother leaning his head against his brother’s arm. Sean thanked Nate once they reached their house and soon they were both inside.

Sean made Daniel go get changed into pajamas, checking his phone. Lyla had sent another text to ask how Danny was doing. Sean responded, telling her he looked like shut but he would nurse him back to health. Pocketing his phone once the message had sent, he gently set his bag on the floor by the front door.

Daniel had returned from his room, now in his pjs, and Sean made him sit on the couch, studying his face as intently as he could.

“Daniel, why did you not tell me you were feeling bad?”

His brother looked away, his eyes not meeting Sean’s.

Sean waited a little before sighing, leaving his brother’s side so he could go grab his brother’s pillow and one of his blankets. He was going to make this easier on both of them and set up Daniel so he was in the living room for now. This way he could keep an eye on him plus get him food whenever he needed it.

Plopping the pillow down on one end of the couch and tossing the blanket in Daniel’s lap, he grabbed a spare trashcan from the closet and placed it in front his brother. He knew that he needed to make something like soup for his brother. Sean figured he wouldn’t be hungry yet, though. He probably felt more like shit than anything.

He wanted to keep asking about why he refrained from telling him this morning … but for now he was going to drop it.

Grabbing the remote, he handed it to his brother and sat down by him.

“Are you hungry, dude?”

“… no..not really. I feel gross.”

There’s the proof.

“Understandable. I’m still going to get you water. And I’ll grab you some crackers, too. You need to at least replace nutrients you lost from getting sick.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Daniel huffed but Sean rolled his eyes and stood up again.

He was glad to see his brother was feeling well enough to roll his eyes. And to make a big deal out of something small.

He was talking normally and didn’t seem to feel too bad right now and Sean was totally fine with that. He would rather have an alert, kinda sick brother to look after.

But who knows what’ll happen.

He wondered if there was any medicine he should be giving him right now to help him.

“Hey, did the nurse say anything to you when they took you there?”

“Oh, no. I mean, she said I had a fever… but she gave me medicine.”

“Oh, cool. Good. I’ll give you more medicine later.”

Grabbing a glass of water and a sleeve of saltine crackers, he placed them by Daniel. Daniel wasted no time to grab the water and start taking sips from it. Seeing his brother like this , sick and weak, made Sean fell terrible. He hated seeing his brother like this. 

It made him wish he could do so much more to make him feel better.

Which explained why he sat down by his brother and started playing with his hair to comfort him.

Dad did this when they felt like total shit and he was glad to see that Danny was relaxing with the simple action. Sean would text dad later to tell him what happened – but he had a suspicion the school called him already to ask what to do. Knowing dad trusted him to be able to take care of Danny when he was sick like this made his heart warm – it wasn’t like he didn’t know he was responsible enough for it, it just felt nice that his dad depended on him in this way.

Sadly, he had no idea what to do about any of this. He could only hope that he would do fine.

Daniel set his glass on the table by him and grabbed his pillow, moving it to Sean’s lap before laying down, his head on his brother’s lap. Sean would have told him that he needed to do stuff – but he didn’t have the heart to make his brother move.

He was also aware the chance of his brother throwing up on him …

But he didn’t care.

Seeing his brother relaxed after what was a horrible morning, and knowing he was the reason for it, made Sean happy. He was doing a good job at being a big bro.

Continuing to play with his brother’s hair, he laid his head back against the couch cushion and let himself relax as well. The more he thought about it, taking care of his brother would be a piece of cake. It wasn’t the first time he had to do it and it probably wouldn’t be the last. He’s had years to do stuff like that.

“Sean?”

Danny’s voice broke the silence between them and Sean looked down to his brother. He wished he could see his face to see if he was okay … but Sean responded anyway with a “Yes?”.

“Are you going to move?”

“Not if you want to use me as your pillow. I don’t mind. I have my phone and I have some things to do from this comfy spot so … knock yourself out. But you should probably get rest. You look horrible.”

“Your face looks horrible.”

“Oh , ha ha , Danny. Real original and really funny. I’m glad I’m related to such comedy gold.”

“Shut up!”

Sean laughed, simply shaking his head. He could feel his heart lighten up , even with all his worries for his little brother building up – but he appreciated the change.

Not like he would want his brother to be upset and gloomy ever… but this is a small change.

One that might not be important at all in the future… but it was something.

He could feel his brother go heavy on his lap and could only assume that he had dozed off. He had no idea how he could do that … but it was much appreciated. He could just talk with him once he wakes up and everything would be okay.


End file.
